As the new curator at the Handweaving Museum & Arts Center in Clayton, NY, in 2005, I had a number of projects on my desk.  One was to create a glossary of terms we tend to use a lot in the museum business.  After defining "accession" and before getting to "artifact" I came to "archives."  How to do this term justice?  It was about then that I learned about "Archives Matter" from the Upstate History Alliance.  Wow! Four professionally produced picture and text panels to explain what archives are, how they are used and why they are important.  With a few clicks of the UHA website I found that borrowers of the traveling panels were encouraged to supplement their display with items from their own archives.  So we did.  The resulting exhibit is called "Looks Good On Paper: Textiles in Print."  To use another medium to deliver the message we also set up a mini lecture series to go with the exhibit. So "Looks Good" also became "Sounds Good."

For the lecture series we found four speakers from the Thousand Islands area interested in sharing their thoughts about the archival collections for which they care.  Each speaker brought their own perspective to the series, which manifested itself quite physically for me with audience/speaker set up.  Two speakers required tables, along which archival items could be gently passed.  Here was the cherishing of the genuine article.  One speaker needed only a comfortable chair set close to his audience, storytelling style.  This was someone who clearly enjoyed the stories represented by the archival documents.  For our fourth speaker we provided a projection screen for a PowerPoint presentation of the papers, posters and magazines he left in climate-controlled protection back at the museum.  Careful stewardship of the originals was highly important here.  Regardless of set up, all speakers conveyed great enthusiasm for the rich repository of information that their respective archives hold.

Our first speaker was Bob Matthews, a private collector who focuses on Thousand Islands memorabilia.  Bob's collection consists of things such as old tourist booklets, promotional brochures, postcards and souvenirs.  Bob's talk was entitled "The Thrill of the Chase" which gives you the idea.  For Bob, the small victories won by finding such things as a high quality 19^th century A.C. McIntyre photo of a St. Lawrence scene are clearly a driving force.  Should he get the item at a good price, and just before the next guy snaps it up, makes it even better.  However, Bob's motivation is not purely the thrill of the chase. Bob demonstrated that collecting ephemera is a way to bring meaning to, and understanding of, one's home and landscape.

Norm Wagner, Clayton Historian and keeper of the town's archives gave our second talk.  Norm was the guy with the storyteller's chair.  But Norm was not telling tales.  All of his accounts are drawn from oral history paired with examination of the maps, photos, diaries and other documents in his care.  We called the talk "Ask Norm" because you can ask him about any building, landmark or family name associated with the Clayton area and he can tell you the whys and wherefores of it.  Norm, we found, is a walking, talking, user-friendly index to the Town Archives.

Following Norm was the PowerPoint guy, John Summers, Chief Curator of the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton.  John treated us to a rollicking good presentation about the varied and impressive archival holdings at the ABM.  We saw old boat advertisements, vacation photos, travel brochures and business documents, all of which deepened our appreciation of the varnished mahogany watercraft, outboard motors and sleek skiffs one sees in the museum's galleries.  A case in point was a group of photos concerning powerboat racer and builder Gar Wood.  The ABM archives holds photos of Gar Wood, his factories, workers, family members and his racing exploits.  From these we got a sense of Mr. Wood's style and an insight into the origins of these magnificent pleasure boats, some of which can still be seen on the St. Lawrence today.

Our final talk in the series was from Mary Hamilton, Historian for the village of Cape Vincent and Secretary to the Cape Vincent Historical Society's Board of Trustees.  Mary used a table setup to show us 19^th century diaries and scrapbooks.  We were surprised to see that scapbooking the old fashioned way meant, in some cases, re-using old school textbooks to hold clippings from magazines and newspapers.  The clippings were glued in, right on top of the printed pages.  Many of the clippings were quaint and humorous to our modern ears, such as the newspaper story from prohibition times about the horse's rear end found projecting from the ice of the St. Lawrence.  The poor creature was connected to a sunken cart that had been full of smuggled beer.  No one came to claim him.  Mary also showed us how archival papers can inform us directly about our own ancestors.  Mary is a fifth generation Hinckley in the Cape Vincent area and it was her ancestor Sam Hinckley who in 1829 ran the first ferry from Wolfe Island to the mainland.  Mary showed us an old diary that helped her pinpoint family member birthdates.

Our lecture series had stiff competition from glorious fall weather and other festivities in the area, however all who attended enjoyed the lectures.  Among audience members were people who also collected ephemera, and others who knew the speakers and shared their interests, including trustees of the institutions represented.  While each lecture was wonderfully informative, so too was the post-lecture coffee and cookies period when speakers and audience members traded historical stories, archive collecting tips, and ideas for archive development.  As host institution we were pleased to have witnessed, if not strengthened the ties between the institutions and individuals who attended.  The tables, storytelling chair and projection screen are back in storage, but we are all slightly the richer for their use.  Thanks Upstate History Alliance.  Your panels prompted a whole series of good things to look at, listen to and think about.